Oliver Sträter has been Professor of Work and Organizational Psychology at the University of Kassel since 2008. He received his PhD and habilitation from the Technical University of Munich in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. He obtained his diploma from RWTH Aachen University as a work and organizational psychologist.

His work focuses on the analysis and assessment of physical and psychological stress, the robust design of organizations, healthy leadership, and reliability, resilience, and safety.
Before accepting the professorship, he was responsible for the analysis and evaluation of human reliability in nuclear facilities and for safety issues relating to the unification of European airspace and the impact of digitalization on air traffic controllers at the European Aviation Safety Agency in Brussels.

He heads the VDI Technical Committee on Human Reliability and Safety, which has published the VDI 4006 series of guidelines on the evaluation of systems and the analysis of incidents involving human behavior.